This week I test drove The 2021 Toyota Venza Limited Hybrid. The Venza is a nice looking vehicle with plenty of space and it’s great on gas. The interior matches the sophisticated exterior. You can tell Toyota is confident with their hybrid technology with their battery warranty of 10 years or 150,000 miles. This Mid-size Crossover Utility Vehicle (CUV) is a great blend of sportiness and style.
Exterior
The Venza has some similarities to the RAV4 but with some substantial differences in design elements. My test vehicle exterior was the Coastal Gray Metallic. The exterior lines of the Venza are smooth. I think the Venza has less boxy proportions than the RAV4. The Multi-layer dark gray front grille with chrome accent really makes the aesthetics pop on this CUV. One cool option is the Star Gaze™ fixed panoramic roof with on/off control and power sunshade. With the press of a button you can change the tint of the roof. If you go with this option it replaces the Low-profile silver roof rails. The exterior looks more to me like a Lexus in styling and approach which I believe is a positive attribute.
Interior
The interior of the Venza is of good quality, close to what you would expect from Lexus. It really looks durable and classy. . The first thing I noticed was how nice the interior design elements flowed and also the large touchscreen and infotainment center. My test version had ventilated front seats, a bird’s eye view camera, a 12.3-inch touchscreen, and a nine-speaker audio system. The Venza is a five seat vehicle and it has a good amount of interior space for a midsize CUV. The trunk space is less than the RAV4 Hybrid due to the sloping roof but adequate enough for someone in the market for a Midsize CUV. The seats are comfortable and make this an easy vehicle to drive around town or road trips.
Engine / Powertrain
The 2021 Toyota Venza Limited Hybrid comes with a 2.5L 4cyl Engine with ECVT
Hybrid System w/ EV, Eco, Normal and Sport Drive Modes. I found the acceleration and drive experience to be good in all modes with the most noticeable bump in power in Sport mode. I really never felt the need to be out of Eco or Normal mode while driving around town.
The engine and powertrain generate 219 combined net horsepower It gets 40 MPG Highway, 37 MPG City and 39 MPG Combined. I like what I see so far from Toyota in regards to gas mileage and power but definitely look forward to see how they improve performance over the next iterations.
Options and Special Packages
My Venza test vehicle had the Advanced Technology Package which includes Head-Up Display (HUD) with speedometer and hybrid system indicators, and rain-sensing variable intermittent windshield wipers. The Venza also had the SofTex® Package which ncludes perforated SofTex®-trimmed95 seats; heated and ventilated front seats; 8-way power-adjustable driver’s seat with memory function and power lumbar support; 4-way power-adjustable front passenger seat; driver and front passenger seatback pockets; heated leather-trimmed power tilt/telescopic 3-spoke steering wheel.
Safety
Every Toyota Venza comes with active and passive safety features for the protection of the driver and passengers. There are eight airbags dotted around the cabin, including front/rear side curtain airbags, a driver knee airbag, and a front passenger seat cushion airbag. The Star Safety System comprises enhanced vehicle stability control, traction control, brake assist, and smart stop technology.
In addition, the Toyota Safety Sense 2.0 suite packs in a pre-collision system with pedestrian detection, lane departure alert with steering assist, automatic high beams, lane tracing assist, full-speed dynamic radar cruise control, and road sign assist. The base model has blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert, while the top two trims add front/rear parking assist with automated braking. The Limited trim gets a bird’s eye view camera system.
Conclusion
The 2021 Toyota Venza Limited Hybrid makes a great first impression and from the Lexus like exterior and interior design elements to the driver experience. You can get into a Venza at a modest $32,570 MSRP , my test version with options MSRP was $43,100. Other factors to consider are the awesome warranty and ToyotaCare program. The Lease options looked pretty good to me if you fit within the mileage requirements.
You can get all the official info on the Toyota Venza right here as follows:
